Wary of opioid abuse, Virginia veterinarians look for red flags in pet owners

A man in Fairfax County said his 10-year-old boxer chewed the floor trim, peed on pillows and scared easily from thunder. He insisted his pet needed treatment for separation anxiety. On top of that, he claimed a recently dislocated knee was giving the dog pain.During that summer of 2016, he took the boxer to six different veterinarians, according to police, and received several doses and early refills of Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, and tramadol, an opioid used to treat pain.The man was charged with prescription fraud, and the scheme prompted the department to publish a brochure the next year on the warning signs of “vet shopping” – what might be one of the most unexpected turns in the opioid epidemic.The incident has the ring of an urban myth, but substance abuse experts say it’s happening. As the heroin and prescription painkiller crisis devastates communities across the country, some users have sought narcotics through back channels when they couldn’t find a willing doctor.Virginia has recently established new policies for veterinarians on how they can use opioids for acute and chronic conditions, and in the 2018 General Assembly session, lawmakers expanded the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program – a tracking system previously used only by human doctors – to include veterinarians. Failure to enter mandatory data in the system could result in penalties from the Board of Veterinary Medicine.